Air conditioning system



April 1938. R.- s. KOPP AIR CONDITIONING SYSTEM Filed April 9, 1936 2 Sheets-Sheet l JNVENTOR mp m April 26, 1938. R. s. KOPP 2,115,226

AIR CONDITIONING SYSTEM Filed April 9, 1936 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR ROGER $.KOPP,

ATTORN EY Patented Apr. 26, 1938 umrep STATES 2,115,226 AIR CONDITIONING- srs'ra u Roger S. Kopp, York, Pa. Application April 9, 1936, Serial No. 73,462

6 Claims.

This'invention relates to air conditioning systems, and more particularly to such systems and apparatus which may be installed in transport vehicles, such as automobiles, busses, trucks, railroad cars, airplanes and the like. However, the invention may also be used for air conditioning any limited space within its capacity, such as rooms of buildings, etc.

An object of the invention is to provide an improved air conditioning system of the absorption type, in which means are provided for positively circulating air within the area, to be conditioned at variable velocities.

Another object of the invention is to provide an improved air conditioning system of the above type, in which the air is dehumidifled by means of a rotatably mounted wheel of suitable anhydrous material.

Another object of the invention is to provide an air conditioning system of the above type with means 'for cooling the conditioned air.

Another object of the invention is to provide an air conditioning system of the above type with means for heating the conditioned air.

Another object of the invention is to provide an improved air conditioning system of the above type, in which the wheel of anhydrous material is caused to rotate only by, means of moisture which is absorbed by a portion of the wheel at the point which unbalances the wheel.

Another object of the invention is to provide an improved air conditioning system of the character mentioned which is simple in construction and reliable and exact in function under all conditions of service.

The invention also comprises certain new and useful improvements in the construction, arrangement and combination of the several parts of which it is composed, as will be hereinafter more fully described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings:

Figure 1 is a diagrammatic view, partly in section, of an air conditioning system embodying the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a vertical section taken along the line 2-2 of Fig. 1, looking at one end of the apparatus; and

Figs. 3 and 4 are detail sections showing modifled forms of the wheel used for dehumidifying the air.

Referring to' the drawings, and especially to Fig. l, the improved air conditioning system comprises a disk or wheel ii, formed of suitable absorbing material such for instance as diatomaceous earth. The nature of which material is 4 A nussuen The ends of the shaft 13 are journalled in bearfully described.

Connected to the opening I6 is one end of a conduit 1 8 of a blower or fan I9. The blower or fan I9 is driven by an electric motor 20.

Also driven by the motor 20 is a second blower or fan 2| which is disposed on the opposite side of the motor to the blower or fan l9.

Thev blower or fan I9 is mounted in a casing 22 having an inlet opening 23 formed therein. The inlet opening 23 is connected to a chamber or other compartment by means of a conduit 24, which extends through the wall 25 of the chamber or compartment. If so desired, the inner end of the conduit 24 may have a filter 26 mounted therein for cleaning the air drawn from the compartment or chamber by the blower or fan l9.

The blower or fan 2| has a casing 21 which is connected at one end to the casing 15 of the wheel II by a conduit 28.

Directly below the axis of the wheel II the outer wall of the wheel casing I5 is formed with an opening 29 which is, as shown in Fig. 2, greater in area than the opening I! heretofore referred to, and said opening 29 is located in the outside wall of the'casing l5 at'a point opposite to the connection of the conduit 28 with the wall of the casing on the inner side of the wheel ii, the inner end of the conduit 28 conforming in shape and area substantially to the opening 29 shown in Fig. 2. g

The casing 21 of blower or fan 2i is formed with an inlet opening 30. Connected to the inlet opening 30 is a conduit 3| having a filter 32 mounted therein as shown in Fig. 1.

Preferably the conduit 3| leads from a source of heat which may, in the present instance, be a pipe 33, said conduit encircling the pipe 33 as shown. V

Conduit 3i is connected to conduit 24, heretofore referred to, by a conduit 34. At the point where conduit 34 is joined to conduit 3| there is a damper or valvedevice 35, which is adapted to divert air flowing through conduit 3| into conduit 34, so that heated air in conduit 3| will be conducted to the blower or fan IQ, for a purpose to be hereinafter more fully described.

Leading from opening I! in the wheel casing l 5 is a conduit 36 which extends through thewall 25 of the chamber or compartment. The conduit 36 terminates a suitable distance inside of the chamber or compartment, and if so desired has mounted therein a receptacle 31 for a suitable cooling agent or cooling material.

In operation, through the action of motor 2|! the blowers or fans i9 and 2| are rotated at a suitable speed. Through the operation of blower i9 air to be conditioned is withdrawn from the chamber or compartment through the conduit 24 and forced through the perforations l2 in the wheel II. The air is then returned to the chamber or compartment by conduit 36 leading from the outer side of the wheel casing l5.

The perforations i2 through the wheel ii are so arranged as to present the greatest surface area to the wiping action of the air passing through the wheel to thereby extract moisture from the air as delivered by the fan l9 at the opening it in the casing l5 of the wheel.

In some cases it may be desirable to construct the wheel II with the perforations l2 extending through said wheel at an angle to the rotating axis thereof, as shown in Figs. 3 and 4. In this way a greater surface area is presented to the wiping action of the air which passes through the wheel, with the result that the rotary movement of the wheel will be accelerated.

The weight of the added moisture to the portion of the wheel II as the airpasses through the wheel from opening Hi to opening l7, acts as a counterweight and causes the wheel to rotate in a clockwise direction, as shown by the arrow in Fig. 2.

The blower or fan 2i delivers hot air to the wheel Ii through conduit 28 which is located at the bottom of the housing l5 as has been heretofore described. The hot air, in passing through the moisture wet wheel ll, evaporates the moisture absorbed by said wheel and dries the wheel. This removal of moisture, in turn, lightens the lowermost area of the wheel between the point at which the conduit 28 is connected to the wheel casing I5 and the opening 29, and thereby permits the accumulated moisture in the portion of the wheel between the openings l6 and I! to exert an overbalancing effect upon the wheel ii and thereby cause said wheel to rotate.

The portion of the wheel II from the opening 29 in a clockwise direction (Fig. 2) to the opening I1 is the dryest portion of the wheel and consequently the lighter part, while the portion or area of the wheel from the opening II to the opening 29 is the area or portion containing the greatest amount of moisture and consequently this part-of the wheel II has an overbalancing effect thereon. And in order that the air to be dehumidified will pass through the wheel II, the casing l5 should be so formed as to enclose the wheel as closely as possible, there being only sufficient clearance between the casing and the wheel to permit free unrestricted rotation of the wheel in the casing.

This continuous cycle of operation constantly causes the dry area of the wheel to move past the air stream entering the wheel through the opening l6 and at the same time the drying action of the heat being supplied at-the bottom of the wheel through the action of blower 2| is continued. This is 'a new principal of inherent automatic action instead of applied control or action which would be produced by positively rotating the wheel II by mechanical means, such as a motor or the like.

In the above description of the operation of the device, it was assumed that the bypass damper 35 is in position to cut off communication between conduits 3| and 34. The purpose of the damper 35 is to control the amount of heat flowing through the conduit 34 so that during cold weather heated air can be directed through conduit 34 to conduit 24 and, through the action of blower l9, be forced into the chamber or compartment behind the wall 25 so that said chamber or compartment will be heated by the conditioned air.

.On the other hand, if it is desired to cool the air delivered to the chamber or compartment by conduit 36, said conduit may have means mounted therein at the point 31 for chilling the air entering the chamber or compartment. Such air chilling ,means may be in the form of a block of carbon dioxide, or any other suitable mate-' rial which will lower the temperature of the conditioned air.

The above air conditioning system has been particularly designed for use in automobiles, busses, trucks and other transport vehicles, and when so used the apparatus can be mounted on the motor side of the dash board of a vehicle. that is to say, under the hood of a vehicle. In this case, the wall 25 constitutes the dash board of the vehicle and the conduits 24 and 36 terminate within the body of the vehicle at a point adjacent to space therein between the instrument board and the dash board as will be understood.

The cycle which has been herein shown is primarily that cycle which is known as the cooling cycle. For winter or cold weather use, it is desirable, usually, to add moisture to the air, thereby increasingits relative humidity to a balanced condition compatible with the temperature differential between the outside air and the heated conditioned air. In consequence of which I propose to subject the disk or wheel II to a spray or drip of water directly over the opening i'l, so that the wheel will be sufficiently wet that the heated air passing through the-wheel in circulation will absorb moisture from the wheel instead of the wheel absorbing moisture from the heated air.

The periphery of the casing i5 between the openings 29 and H, in a clockwise direction (Fig. 2), is subjected to a current of air to dispel by convection the heat which the wheel I i may have absorbed between the points 28 and 23 in the drying cycle.

Since the device is very compact and light in weight it can be cheaply manufactured and can be easily adapted for the above purpose to provide a positive circulation of conditioned air within the body of a vehicle.

When the device is installed in a vehicle, as above referred to, the conduit 3| can be connected to the exhaust pipe of the engine of the vehicle, said exhaust pipe being indicated at 33.

On the other hand, larger devices can be constructed for installation on railroad cars or in rooms of buildings. However, the primary purpose of the invention is to provide an inexpensive air conditioning system for motor vehicles, which can be used throughout the entire year to supply conditioned air, that is, heated and humidified or dehumidified air in cold weather, and chilled or cooled dehumidified air in extremely hot weather, to the interior of the body of a vehicle.

Changes may be made in the details of construction and in the arrangement of the parts above described within certain limits without departing from the spirit of the invention.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is:

1. Air conditioning apparatus of the type described comprising a rotary absorber wheel, a casing enclosing said wheel, openings formed in the wheel casing on opposite sides thereof, said openings being located at a point aboveand ofiset to the axis of said wheel, a blower having a conduit for conducting air to be conditioned to said wheel casing, said blower conduit being connected to one of said openings on one side of said casing, a conduit connected to the otheropening for conducting conditioned air away from the apparatus, a second blower, a conduit leading from a source of heat to said second blower, a conduit connecting said heat conduit with the conduit conducting air to be conditioned to said first blower, means for controlling the amount of heated air admitted to said connecting conduit, a conduit connecting said second blower with said wheel casing at a point spaced from said first named openings, an opening formed in the wall of said wheel casing opposite to the point of attachment of said second blower conduit for discharging the air delivered to said wheel casing by said second blower, and a single means for simultaneously operating both 01' said blowers.

2. An air dehumidifying apparatus comprising a perforated wheel composed of anhydrous material, a casing enclosing said wheel, means for rotatably mounting said wheel in said casing, means for passing air to be dehumidifled through a restricted portion of said wheel above the axis of the wheel, and means for passing a current of heated air through a portion of said wheel oifset with respect to said first named portion and located below the axis of the wheel to remove the moisture from the wheel and lighten a restricted portion of the wheel, so that said wheel is rotated by the downward motion imparted by the overweighted saturated portion of the wheel.

3. Continuous absorption apparatus comprising a rotatably mounted perforated wheel formed of anhydrous material, a casing enclosing said wheel, means for passing humid air through a restricted portion of the wheel at a point above the axis of the wheel, and means for removing moisture from the wheel at a point below the axis of said wheel, whereby the saturated portion of the wheel overbalances the dewatered portion thereof, thereby permitting the weighted portion of the wheel to. move downwardly and efiect automatic rotation of the wheel.

4. An air dehumidifying apparatus comprising a wheel formed of anhydrous material, means for rotatably supporting said wheel whereby the same is free to rotate when it is overbalanced, means for passing air to be dehumidified through a restricted portion of the wheel above the center thereof whereby a limited area of said wheel is saturated with moisture, and means for passing a current of heated air through a restricted portion of the wheel below the center .of said wheel so as to remove moisture from the lower portion of the wheel and permit the saturated portion above the center of the wheel to overbalance the dewatered portion below the center of the wheel and thereby cause said wheel to rotate.

5. Air conditioning apparatus of the type described comprising an absorber wheel adapted to rotate solely by gravity, a casing enclosing said wheel and constituting means for rotatably supporting said wheel, a pair of alined openings formed in said casing at a point offset with and above the axis of rotationof said wheel, a blower having a conduit for conducting moisture-laden air to be conditioned to said wheel, said blower conduit being connected to the opening on one side of said casing whereby moisture-laden air is delivered to said wheel, a conduit connected to the opening on the opposite side of said casing for conducting dewatered air away from the apparatus, a second pair of alined openings formed in said casing at a point below the axis of rotation of said wheel, a second blower, a conduit leading from a source of heat to said second blower, and a conduit connecting said second blower with the lower opening on one side of the casing for conducting heated air to said wheel for the purpose of unwatering said wheel whereby the lower sector of the wheel is lightened to permit the wheel to rotate by gravity under the downward forces exerted by the upper satu-' rated portion of the wheel.

I 6. An air dehumidifying apparatus comprising a wheel formed of moisture absorbing material, a casing enclosing said wheel, means for rotatably mounting said wheel in said casing, means for passing air to be dehumidified through a restricted portion of said wheel above the axis of the wheel, and means for passing another current of air through a portion of said wheel offset with respect to said first-named portion and located below the axis of the wheel to remove moisture from the wheel and lighten a restricted portion of the wheel, so that said wheel is rotated by the downward motion imparted by the overweighted saturated portion of the wheel.

ROGER S. KOPP. 

